WASHINGTON (BP)--The U.S. House of Representatives voted Feb. 18 to eliminate all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the country's No. 1 abortion provider, during the remainder of this fiscal year.

It is apparently the first time a chamber of Congress has ever voted to defund the organization, which recorded more than 324,000 abortions at its clinics in 2008, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

In a 240-185 roll call, the House acted to cut off all federal government money for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its 102 affiliates through Sept. 30. Planned Parenthood and its affiliates received $363.2 million in government grants and contracts during the 2008-09 fiscal year. Some of that total came from state and local governments.

Representatives added the Planned Parenthood amendment to a continuing resolution to extend funding for federal agencies in the absence of a 2011 budget. Congress failed to pass a budget last year, adopting instead a resolution that continued funding for the federal government through March 4.

Pro-life advocates applauded passage of the amendment.

Rep. Mike Pence, R.-Ind., the amendment's sponsor, described the vote as "a victory for taxpayers and a victory for life. By banning federal funding to Planned Parenthood, Congress has taken a stand for millions of Americans who believe their tax dollars should not be used to subsidize the largest abortion provider in America."

Douglas Johnson, the National Right to Life Committee's legislative director, said the "landmark vote demonstrates that most House members now recognize Planned Parenthood is a hyper-political, under-regulated, out-of-control mega-marketer of abortion as a method of birth control."

A long-time legislative strategist in Washington, Johnson said it is the first time he recalls a congressional vote to cut all federal funds for Planned Parenthood.

Pence's amendment, as well as the continuing resolution it is a part of, faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

The House still had more than 100 amendments proposed to the continuing resolution the afternoon of Feb. 18 before a vote on final passage could be taken. Republicans are seeking to cut $100 billion from the budget in the resolution. In amendments approved Feb. 18, the House voted to withhold funds for implementation of last year's health-care reform law.

The roll call on Pence's amendment was largely along party lines. Ten Democrats reportedly joined 230 Republicans in supporting the proposal, although the official roll call had not been posted on the House's website by 4:30 EST.

In a Feb. 17 floor speech on his amendment, Pence said he was not conducting a "war on Planned Parenthood.... Sadly, abortion on demand is legal in America. This debate is about who pays for it.

"Nobody is saying that Planned Parenthood can't be the leading advocate of abortion on demand in America," he said, "but why do I have to pay for it?

"Nobody is saying that Planned Parenthood can't continue to be the largest abortion provider in America, but why do tens of millions of pro-life taxpayers have to pay for it?"

House approval of the amendment followed nearly three weeks of damaging publicity for Planned Parenthood. Hidden-camera videos secretly recorded at the organization's clinics and released Feb. 1-8 showed employees demonstrating an apparent willingness to aid sex traffickers whose prostitutes are in their early teens.

Live Action, which is led by young pro-lifers, released video footage from secret investigations at six clinics that showed Planned Parenthood staff signaling cooperation with a self-described pimp in providing birth control, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and/or abortions for his alleged, under-age sex workers. The pimp and a prostitute who, in some cases, accompanied him to the clinics were actors doing undercover work for Live Action. An undercover audio from another Planned Parenthood clinic in Washington, D.C., and released Feb. 10 revealed a similar response from a staff member.

The clandestine videos were shot at Planned Parenthood clinics in New Jersey, New York and Virginia from Jan. 11 to 14, according to Live Action.

Pence has been working to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood in recent years. Two previous attempts to eliminate grants for the organization under the Title X program failed. His proposals to that effect failed by a 231-189 vote in 2007 and by 247-183 in 2009.

Title X is the federal government's family planning program, and Planned Parenthood is the leading recipient of Title X funds. Although Title X funds do not go directly for abortions, pro-life advocates contend federal money frees up other contributions to Planned Parenthood for the promotion and performance of abortions.

Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land wrote the House leadership Feb. 16 to urge support for Pence's amendment and other pro-life legislation in the continuing resolution. "We do not believe the government should be in the business of supporting the nation's leading abortion provider with taxpayer dollars, no matter how Planned Parenthood allocates the money," said Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).

The ERLC sent an e-mail alert to constituents earlier Feb. 18 to encourage calls to House members for support of the amendment.

Pence introduced in January the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, H.R. 217, which would prohibit Title X funds from going to all abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood.

The Government Accountability Office reported only $53 million of the $363 million in government funds Planned Parenthood received in 2008-09 came through Title X, Pence said.

Planned Parenthood recently issued new rules requiring at least one clinic per affiliate to perform abortions, signaling it is prepared to gain a greater market share of the abortion business.

The Republican leadership placed several pro-life measures in the continuing resolution. Among those are:

-- Reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy, which would bar federal money for organizations that perform or promote abortions overseas.

-- Restoration of the prohibition on funds for the United Nations Population Fund, which has been found to support China's coercive population control program.

-- Re-establishment of the ban on the use of federal and congressionally approved local funds for elective abortions in the District of Columbia.

Live Action's newly released video stings are the latest in a series of undercover investigations of Planned Parenthood clinics released during the last four years.

A previous hidden-camera project by Live Action caught Planned Parenthood employees in Alabama, Arizona, California, Indiana and Tennessee seeking to cover up alleged child sexual abuse, prompting some state investigations. Another video sting showed a counselor at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Wisconsin providing erroneous information about fetal development.

In an undercover investigation Live Action conducted by telephone, Planned Parenthood workers in seven states were caught on audio tape agreeing to receive donations designated for abortions of African-American babies.

yes, and let’s keep going. 100% defunding of all other leftist non-profit groups getting my money - like all the legal foundations (ACLU) for example, and then keep going. Wouldn’t be surprised if all that added up to $50B. And that is just the direct costs. The indirect costs are that those groups turn around and make demands of the government which is another layer of cost that would disappear. The other indirect cost is most of those groups simply make any problem they are involved in worse, not better.

The problem is all these amendments have to get through the Senate and be signed by 0. I doubt that's going to happen, but Sen. Toomey has shown that some level of govt can be maintained without a continuing resolution (no new debt ceiling) from the monthly tax receipts the govt. gets. The big question is will the Senate Pubs go along with this, so when the Rats have to make a choice it's between all of their pet programs being eliminated, or some.

I didn’t read the wording of the amendment, but wouldn’t it have been better to target any organization from receiving title x funds if it performs more than a certain number of abortions a year. How can it be constitutional to target one entity?

I didn’t read the wording of the amendment, but wouldn’t it have been better to target any organization from receiving title x funds if it performs more than a certain number of abortions a year. How can it be constitutional to target one entity?

It is a great set up for negotiation. The Rats are finding at the State level and now the Federal level that the groups that provide the bulk of their campaign funding are being attacked and potentially defunded. They literally are now fighting for their lives, without this perverse system where govt takes taxes and gives it to special groups which in turn fund their campaigns the Rats can't raise campaign funding to compete with the Pubs.

The thing we have to watch for is how the "old bull rino's" respond. Do they back Toomey who has given them an alternative to a govt shut down, or do they cave in and restore the funding. History says the latter, but I'm not so sure. If they hold the line the Rats will start to get a lot of pressure from those defunded groups to save them.

I have a question about Medicaid funding. Planned Parenthood is divided up into many different ‘groups’, only one of which is the group that does abortions. There are PP groups that have clinics that don’t do abortions, but are like low cost medical clinics for women who may not have a regular doctor. If they go to one of those clinics for breast or gynecological exams, or other regular physician treatments, does this legislation bar PP from collecting the Medicaid money that it would give any other doctor for performing such medical activities?
If they aren’t getting their operating budget from the government anymore, and have to run like a regular business, would they receive reimbursement from Medicaid, or is that barred with this legislation?

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